Russia shamed by new hooliganism scandal as 30 fans held after Spartak Moscow fans cause football riot

About thirty fans were detained after trouble broke out during a Russian Cup
match between Shinnik Yaroslavl and Spartak Moscow

The true extent of Russia’s racist hooligan problem has been brutally exposed after Spartak Moscow fans went on a rampage that led the country’s leading sports newspaper to warn of “the end of football in our country”.

The image of the 2018 World Cup hosts took another battering on Wednesday when footage emerged of a shocking outbreak of violence at a cup match between Spartak and second-tier club Shinnik Yaroslavl.

The match had to be suspended when fans of the country’s most successful club let off flares, hurled seats and clashed with police in scenes that took place at almost the same moment as Uefa punished Moscow rivals CSKA for the racist abuse by their fans of Manchester City’s Yaya Toure. There were 78 arrests, prompting Sport Express to write in an article headlined ‘Either them (the hooligans) or football’: “Everyone now understands: if this mayhem created by the fans is not ended then it is going to be the end of football in our country.”

Thousands of Spartak fans made the four-hour journey east of Moscow to Yaroslavl for the Russian Cup fourth-round tie, in an apparent coordinated bid to take advantage of laxer security measures at lower-division clubs.

Even before the match, dozens of fans set off flares and threw smoke bombs as they chanted Spartak’s name. Pictures also showed one fan holding a Nazi banner.

The situation worsened during the second half when fans clashed with helmeted OMON anti-riot police who entered the stands. The fans then ripped out dozens of seats and hurled them on to the pitch.

The referee suspended the game in the 53rd minute, ordering the players into the dressing room. Police brought some order by bringing in a water cannon truck that fired into the stands.

After a 20-minute pause, the match was restarted with Spartak scoring to win 1-0.

Police, who have opened a probe into vandalism that could lead to jail terms of up to three years, said the flares had been smuggled into the stadium in plaster casts for purported injuries and in “intimate places” that were not searched.

In January a new law comes into force in Russia which threatens fines and bans from sports events of up to seven years for such behaviour.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said: “Five or seven years ago we cleared this up a bit but now we are going backwards.”

"Alas, we have got so accustomed to deviating from the norms of civilised society, that we no longer see, hear, or notice this. But it hits foreigners in the eyes," said Sport Express.

The incident in Yaroslavl comes after Russia this summer passed a new law on football fan behaviour aiming to quell the problem ahead of the World Cup.

The law, which foresees fines and bans from sports events of up to seven years, is not due to come into force until January.

Yaroslavl police have opened a probe into vandalism that could lead to jail terms of up to three years.

Wednesday's crowd trouble was among the most serious in Russia since a notorious incident in 2012 when Dynamo Moscow goalkeeper Anton Shunin sustained eye injuries after being hit in the face by a firecracker during a match with Zenit St Petersburg.